The classic game of chess has found a new home: Twitch
The classic game of chess has found a new home: Twitch
The classic game of chess has found a new home: Twitch
September 10, 2020
Summary
As a global pandemic continues to determine a new normal, tens of thousands of viewers have been tuning in to watch people play chess on a livestreaming website called Twitch.
An American chess grandmaster, Hikaru Nakamura, along with a number of celebrities of the video game world, is leading a renaissance in the ancient game.
The current renaissance in chess is happening at the confluence of livestreaming technology, video game culture, and one grandmaster's exceptional skills as both a chess player and an entertainer.
In June, 16 of Twitch's top streamers played in a round robin chess tournament after being coached by a number of world-class chess players, including Nakamura.
There are a few pieces involved in this world of online chess: the streaming technology of Twitch, Nakamura, the online gaming community, and the game of chess itself.
In the case of Nakamura and chess, the results are new ways of playing chess, a new meme-filled language surrounding chess and, as gamers continue to watch chess in huge numbers, an illustration of how gamers connect with each other and parts of the offline world in meaningful ways.
As chess has grown in this community, an established elite guided by a few longtime chess players and commentators see the trend as detrimental to a once noble contest.
Ben Finegold, a prominent U.S. grandmaster, refers to the streamers with whom Nakamura has collaborated as "Negative talent." Unlike a "Normal person who has talent" in chess, says Finegold, users on Twitch ought to be ignored lest they diminish the good name of a traditional chess community.
David Llada, the chief marketing and communications officer for the International Chess Federation, acknowledges the damage of insular thinking: "Our main sin is that chess people tend not to think 'outside the chess board.' They don't pay enough attention to the world around them."
Whatever the old guard of chess believes, this ancient game has found a new, passionate, and receptive audience.
Reference
The classic game of chess has found a new home: Twitch. (2020, September 10). Retrieved September 15, 2020, from https://thenextweb.com/gaming/2020/09/13/the-classic-game-of-chess-has-found-a-new-home-twitch/